Minority health office opens

Thursday, Feb. 2, 2006 | 11:24 a.m.

Larry Gamell passed his hand through the air and said, "There's a lot here ... in this 10 x 13 office."

Actually, there was hardly anything in the office, home of the recently created, $280,000-a-year state office of minority health - a desk, a phone, a fax machine, a bunch of boxes.

Gamell - who for now is a one-man operation - then said that he meant "there's a lot to do" in the new office.

He's hoping that the agency, which was created by the 2005 Legislature, will address such issues as access to health care, the quality of that care and health information for minorities in Nevada.

After two previous sessions nixed the idea, the 2005 Legislature approved funding for the office. The federal government offered more funds, and, as of Jan. 3, Gamell went to work.

He previously directed a federal grant to promote cardiovascular health in the valley's black community.

Steven C. Hansen, chief executive director of Nevada Health Centers Inc., a nonprofit organization that runs nine clinics for low-income patients in the valley, said the agency's creation was an important step - especially since Nevada was one of only five states without such an entity.

"It will create information we don't currently have about minority health issues, bring attention to those issues and focus federal and foundation dollars on addressing those issues," he said.

Hansen knows: Up to 60 percent of the 70,000-plus patients who visit his clinics annually are minorities.

But the hopes that Hansen has for Gamell's office are still on the horizon. Gamell has yet to hire two employees, one of whom will gather data on the health problems faced by the valley's different minorities - about 44 percent of the total population, according to 2004 Census Bureau estimates.

For now, Gamell said, he's trying to get to know the different groups working with minorities in the Las Vegas Valley.

That's a wide-ranging chore, judging by his agenda for part of this week.

Tuesday morning, he was to speak with someone at the Urban Chamber of Commerce about diabetes in the black community.

Then it was off to talk to Medicine Cabinet, a private company that helps low-income people obtain prescription medicine. With barely enough time for lunch, it was over to meet with someone about getting black and Hispanic people to participate in drug trials.

Wednesday, Gamell had meetings penciled in for Luces, a group that works with Hispanic patients, and Community Partners for Health, a nonprofit organization that recently studied HIV/AIDS in the valley.

Because the valley's Hispanic population is, by far, the largest among the three main minority groups - comprising 25 percent of the total population as of 2004 estimates, compared to 10.8 percent for blacks and 7.7 percent for Asians - Gamell said it will be important for him to learn more about that community.

"You cannot practice good public health and leave out a large segment of the population," he said.

Hispanics' health also is important because of the key role they play in the local workforce.

"If we don't have a healthy workforce we're in trouble," he said.

He used images such as "opening the door" and "taking first steps" to describe the work ahead.

"It's like we're adding another column to the spreadsheet," he said.

"When policy is created, it needs to be understood what impact the policy will have on minorities. This should be standard practice in the future."

Timothy Pratt can be reached at 259-8828 or at timothy@lasvegassun.com.